To think extra lessons for top students isn’t fair?

[Beepboobeep]

My DD’s state primary school has a “top maths club” and “great writers club” for the top performing students in yr 5 and 6 held outside of school hours. There is no charge for this - so it’s free childcare and free tutoring. You have to be invited. This has been running since the second week of the school year and is restarting on the first day of this half term.

By contrast, my dyslexic DD is in a group for those needing more support in writing, also outside of school hours. But they only managed 2 sessions last year and it hasn’t started back up this year. She gets ad hoc in school support; where it happens she misses other lessons that aren’t then caught up on, putting her further behind in the those.

I appreciate these children deserve challenging, but surely that could be done in class with different work and the teacher’s out of hours time, if available, used to help those struggling?

Is this even allowed in a state primary?

Every child should have the right to reach their full potential. The issue is not with the class for top performers, it is that the extra support for your child is being cancelled. They are two separate things so don’t mix them.

get on to the school and find out why your child’s extra support hasn’t restarted and what alternative provision there is.

Nobody, and I do mean literally nobody, is entitled to insist that someone works for free. Where a person chooses to do voluntary work they get 100% of the day over what that voluntary work consists of. Teachers who choose to do voluntary work to stretch the capable kids that’s entirely up to them.

An EHCP and an in-school "my plan" profile type document are wildly different things! I've been teaching for 10 years and I have never known a pupil to get an EHCP for dyslexia alone.

Imagine having a bee in your bonnet about a few 9 and 10 year olds staying after school to learn more advanced maths!!
You’re embarrassing.

I often wonder if this has been the driver with regards to homeschooling bright (or even just average) kids.

Is it right to hold back those doing well just because others are not!?

Still not entitled to insist that anyone, even teachers, do extra work for free. Nor are they entitled to insist teachers stop doing the voluntary work they want to do.

They aren't. Your child gets extra help all day, while the brighter students have to sit through lessons that do nothing to challenge them, or their abilities. These after-school clubs, which are being held in these teachers free time, which they are not paid for, are just for FUN.

The issue is teachers teach to the average tonlower end of the class, they have To, otherwise most would fail. So to give the kids who find it too easy more of a challenge is a good thing,

it’s not take it away from them, it’s there should be more for the struggling kids too,

As if you’re concerned about any children other than your own 😂

The school is clearly not properly supporting your DD. However, gifted and talented has just been moved under the SEND umbrella because the government feel ls that there should be stretch and challenge provided. I understand why the comparison makes it feel very unfair, but this offer for G&T students isn't the problem; the problem is the lack of support from this school for those who are struggling. Them not having their club doesn't help your DD.

I am sure it's a factor. We compromised by treating primary school as predominantly about social skills /childcare and having tutors so he could get the stretch he wanted and enjoyed.
But it was dispiriting that about 50% of his primary school teachers would tie themselves in knots to come up with reasons not to stretch him in class time.

I agree with the first response, I’m afraid.

I have a child in each category and the one who is really academic got very little by way of extra challenge at state primary.

why do u think YOU have the right to say who needs it most

Having read this thread and thought about it, to me if you only have resources to stretch the learning of one kid, it makes more sense at a society level to give it to the best kid.

You said in your OP that your child is given adhoc extra support within school hours and also said that your child was part of a group that hadn’t started up again this year. So which is it?

Something tells me you weren’t quite so bothered about all children receiving an equal amount of teaching time when it was your child that was getting extra.

I’m sorry your child is struggling, and no doubt that is colouring your view, but I don’t think you are being very fair. Bright kids are rarely stretched enough to meet their potential, and often it is because teaching in regular classes is slowed down to ensure it remains accessible to the less academic children. I think it is absolutely right that regular teaching suits the whole class because everyone has to attend them, but that means there needs to be some provision for the children who need more to keep them interested and motivated.

I think most teachers and schools work really hard to accommodate all students of all abilities.

You mean the bright kids with unsupportive and poor parents; they've got an after school club.

One shouldn’t cancel out the other. Bright children need stimulation and challenge, strugglers need support too. One group is not more deserving of attention than the other.

Advocate for your own child - if you think resources are applied unequally, ie more is directed towards the high achievers, present the evidence of that as part of your case.

How nice for the high achievers to have access to this. It must be a refreshing change for them.

You said you live in grammar area, well obviously its ti keep the primary school numbers up of kids going to grammar. As its what parents look for in a primary in those areas.

@Beepboobeep The truth is though that students who are academic don't even need the extra help.

Even in my day, it was possible to learn a lot of stuff on the internet. That's even more true today. And now there's even AI to act as a personal tutor.

Teachers are barely even needed now, because all "textbook" learning can be done online.

How do you know this?

I also live in a grammar area. It's costs on average at least 4k for a years tutoring once a week plus 1 summer school. Not everyone can afford this, and there are several students brighter than my DD (who passed) who didn't pass as their parents couldn't afford this. If the school can level the playing field so bright children from poorer backgrounds get the same opportunities as those with more well off parents, that's brilliant.

Parents of children who are struggling academically can also pay for tutors. Does that mean these children shouldn't get any support in school? Of course not!

Have you created a paper trail of emails as to why your child isn't getting the help she should be getting?
That would be my focus, every, single, week.
Constant emails, cc'ing the HT, and then escalate.